Pam Grier
Pam Grier | |
|---|---|
| File:Coffy2.jpg Grier, in her first solo lead, the title role of Coffy (1973) | |
| Born | Pamela Suzette Grier |
Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an iconic American actress. She came to fame in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women-in-prison and blaxploitation films, and has generally remained in the public eye, starring in B-movies such as 1974's Foxy Brown, and in mainstream films such as Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film, Jackie Brown.
Biography
Early life
Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, to African-American parents Clarence Ransom Grier, who served in the United States Air Force and worked as a mechanic, and Gwendolyn Samuels, a homemaker and nurse; she has two sisters and one brother. Because of her father's military career, Pam's family moved frequently during her childhood, to various places such as England, and eventually settled in Denver, Colorado, where Pam attended East High School. While there she appeared in a number of stage productions, and participated in beauty contests to raise money for college tuition toward Metropolitan State College.
Career
Grier moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1967, where she was initially hired as a receptionist at the American International Pictures company. She was discovered by director Roger Corman, who cast her in his women in prison films The Big Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972). She became a staple of early 1970s blaxploitation movies, playing big, bold, buxom roles, beginning with 1973's Coffy, in which Pam plays a nurse who seeks revenge on drug dealers; her film character was advertised in the trailer as the "baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town!" The film, which was filled with sexual and violent elements typical of the genre, was a box office hit, and Grier was noted as the first African-American female to headline a film, as protagonists of previous blaxploitation films were all male. In his review of Coffy, film critic Roger Ebert noted that Pam Grier was an actress of "beautiful face and astonishing form" and that she possessed a kind of "physical life" missing from other actresses.[1] Grier subsequently played similar characters in the films Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster, and Sheba, Baby (both 1975).
With the demise of blaxploitation, Grier's career went on hiatus for several years. She acquired progressively larger character roles in the 1980s, including notably the stoned prostitute in Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), a witch in Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983), and Steven Seagal's detective partner in Above the Law (1988). She made a guest appearance on Miami Vice in 1985, and made a guest appearance on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as a woman who slept with her daughter's boyfriend, Will Smith.
Grier highlighted a successful television series during the 1990s on BET. She again appeared in 1997 as the titular stewardess in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, which many consider her best work to date. As of 2007, she appears in the cable television series The L Word as Kit Porter and occasionally guest-stars in such television series as Law & Order (where she is a recurring character).
Personal life
Grier dated basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the early 1970s and actor/comedian Richard Pryor in 1977. She was also romantically linked to actor/comedian Freddie Prinze in the 1970s. In 1998, she was engaged to music executive Kevin Evans, but they split in 1999.
Trivia
She is a cousin of former football star Rosey Grier.
According to one of the many John Lennon biographies, she was at the famed Troubador night club in Hollywood the night Lennon was ejected for drunkenly heckling The Smothers Brothers.
Awards/Nominations
- Black Reel Awards
- 2002, Best Actress: Bones (Nominated)
- Daytime Emmy Awards
- 2000, Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program: Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Ever Child (Nominated)
- Golden Globe
- 1998, Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
- Image Awards
- 2006, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: The L Word (Nominated)
- 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: The L Word (Nominated)
- 2004, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Law & Order: SVU (Nominated)
- 2003, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Law & Order: SVU (Nominated)
- 2002, Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series/ Television Movie: 3 a.m. (Nominated)
- 2000, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Linc's (Nominated)
- 1999, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Linc's (Nominated)
- 1998, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
- Satellite Awards
- 1998, Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy Motion Picture: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
- Screen Actors Guild
- 1998, Oustanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jackie Brown (Nominated)
Selected filmography
Footnotes
- ^ "RogerEbert.com". Coffy. Retrieved May 11.
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